Tuesday, March 03, 2009

I made the mistake of watching TSN on Sunday night. They ran a story on a loop re. the Leafs as playoff contenders and being buyers at the trade deadline.

I should mention that the on-air "talent" spoke of "playoffs" without any trace of irony. April fool's day isn't for another 28 days, so I have no idea what the producers at TSN were smoking.

The Leafs have gone 4-0-3 in their past seven games, earning 11 points in the process by beating the Islanders (3oth overall), Sens (27th overall) and Rangers (three wins in their past 10) and getting three more sympathy points from OT/SO losses to Columbus (16th overall and outside the playoffs), Vancouver (10th overall) and New Jersey (4th overall).

This isn't the type of win streak that playoff dreams are made of - only two of these six teams even have a winning record.

The NHL Playoff Predictor has the Leafs' odds of making the post-season at 1.2% - that's about 1% higher than I would have guessed. Playoffs and trade deadline buyers indeed.